A business crying out for change: Vodafone has changed the story of the UK and is taking it global, says ALEX BRUMMER

The war has been long. But Vodafone has changed the story for the UK with a global takeover.

It has defeated the idea that there should be more competitors in the market to make it better for consumers.

Despite opposition, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) believed that telecoms could do better than four.

Vodafone’s £16.5billion deal with CK Hutchison’s Three network in the UK comes at a price. In the technology/communications space, where innovation and investment are everything, Vodafone boss Margherita Della Valle said the CMA would put £11 billion on the table to improve interconnections will force other mega operators, BT’s EE and O2, to lift their game. Better networks can trigger better deals for businesses and consumers.

No one can find better and faster mobile phones today. The CMA has given Vodafone eight years to come up with the changes.

In the past, improving cell phone coverage has led to more teas, and they will continue to do so. In more remote areas of the UK, such as the popular TV Shetlands, satellites are proving to be a game changer.

Vodafone is making its own satellite investments, but Elon Musk, as we know from Ukraine, has the Trump card.

Vodafone is a real disappointment for shareholders. Verizon Wireless’ sales revenue in 2013 was over £100 billion, a significant reduction. Investors got a sugar rush in sales and prices, but the ratings on it were weak.

The sclerotic German economy was badly undercut. The regulatory change that left the cable division left Vodafone with a £400million redundancies.

Della Valle believes the company is in a better place.

Clean management and new technology groups close to the customer will turn Germany into a growth market. Vodafone is a pioneer in Africa and laying submarine cables.

The UK is now seen as a great place. But the company may not yet be the £200 billion heavyweight that Chris Gent built in its pioneering days.

Crypto crimes

Is it time to eat a little pie and admit to being completely wrong about crypto? In the weeks since Donald Trump’s election, cryptocurrencies have soared, with the price of bitcoin holding above $100,000.

The president-elect and his new best friend Musk, a fan of dogecoin, have vowed to repeal 40 or more regulations proposed by Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) chief Gary Gensler.

Trump has nominated Paul Atkins, a former SEC official, to replace him. He is on record as a believer in deregulation, and has promised to end the SEC’s stance on crypto. None of this changes the original argument.

I know that many people, including readers, may have died in crypto. But bitcoin and its rivals are rarely used as a form of exchange and are very different from being a commodity of value, consuming a lot of energy.

Crypto cannot be understood by ordinary people because it is mined using an unknowable token.

Like sub-prime mortgages before the financial crisis, it’s possible to collect illiquid assets and generate profits, including trading capital, with respectability.

However the potential users of digital currencies are seen as fraudsters and terrorists. This week the National Crime Agency unveiled a multi-billion pound scheme which ran from London, Moscow and Dubai to allow drug dealers to avoid punishment. How was it hidden? Crypto.

Mission Impossible

The Department of Science has unveiled Government support for over 100 new research projects including neuro-pathways for hand amputations and stroke relief.

The University of Southampton is deploying radar to understand sign language. It can be built into virtual reality systems like Amazon’s Alexa.

£80million will make a difference.

But it is far less than the £22 billion given to the NHS and the provision for AI and R&D ‘Marshall Plan’ that Keir Starmer can promise about the economy of the mission.